Stone Slabs Street Showdown - building the base

It was a learning experience.
(This turns out to be a very long entry and got a lot of photos... )

I made a lot of mistakes, acted on impulse and bought a lot of material out of impulse as well.  So as it turns out I don't need a lot of the stuff I bought and I wasted a lot of material along the way as well.

I did a mock up by just putting together some stock paper and wood.

Then I just stuff the spaces with a lot of clay, really, a lot of clay. but as I realized that it was a waste I started to use more wood to set up the base first, to fill up the spaces so that I don't need so much clay.

got to love Juweela bricks.  I had been using them on a lot of my models.  This time around I learned something more about them: don't prime them, just paint on them.  I made such a mistake and it took me a lot more work to get it look real.  Also, it pays to put some space between them.  In reality they won't be so neatly packed together like that.

This is how it looks like after I filled in the tiny gaps between the bricks, primed, washed and added a lot of pigments.

Canon EOS 40D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
1/6s f/5.6 ISO:800

So when I had learned my lessons I used a lot more wood to make some framework under bigger wood panels so that I don't have to fill the spaces with expensive clay again.

And when It's done I just put a thick layer of clay on top, and start sculpting the surface to make them look like stone slabs.  I smooth out the surface by dripping a lot of water on top of it and smooth it with finger. It was quite messy actually. I sprinkled some sand on it so that it got more stone like texture.

This is how it looks like after priming an air-brushed.  Back when I was trying to smooth it out I used a lot of water, so at the end there were a lot of 'spikes' as the clay behaved like whip cream.  I ended up having to clip away the spikes to make it look more natural.

Canon EOS 40D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
1/6s f/5.6 ISO:800

I know it isn't a good thing to re-cast, but this is only for me and I am not selling it so I hope secret weapon won't mind.  I got a huge 50mm base from Secret Weapon's sack of crap, and re-casted a sewer cover (man-hole) with green stuff. It then was put near the path that cuts through the stairway.  I am hoping that it would create a sense that there is something more out there outside the boundary of the base.

This is how the path looks like.  I traced lines on the path so that it looks more like concrete road in Hong Kong.

Canon EOS 40D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
1/6s f/5.6 ISO:800

Weathering with base paint and salting

Not much of an entry but rather this is a record of what I did with the structure to the SF Sohpie diorama.  I took some better picture of the structure.  This is what it looks like now, next step will be some very careful air brushing to emphasize the lighting effect.

This is what I started with.  By the time I finished it had got a few thick coat of paint and glue already.  Because it's just the base so it doesn't really matter though.  The rust is painted with a mix of Secret weapon wash with a lot of pigments.  Although most of this gone to waste because I haven't put enough salt on it before I apply the air brush.

The result is actually quite impressive.  This is the first time I use this technique and it turns out just fine.  I can always do some more careful weathering of course, but kind of regret that I haven't sprinkle on enough salt on it.  Also I should have done this before I did the rock slide so that I could try submerging it into warm water to remove the salt, instead I scrapped it off with a brush and carving knife.

Great Game Hunter [Kingdom Death] - WIP

Hi everyone


this is for the WAMP KD competition, I got her before the competition anouncement so I didn't get the discount : ( and I got it from CMON

it's hard to show the face properly in the other pic, so here's a close up, I like how it turns out, but overall the iris will look pale and small



This is where I am up to as of last night, see how the eye turns out very strange?
most of the base coat is done, can't resist doing the clothing on her chest, hi-res grey as white
I won't re-do the eyes (75% chance I won't)...



This is the back, the cloak is something of a pat on the back for myself (ignore the two dots of moldline please... note to self, basse coat then white dry brush to get all the moldlines =..=)
I did sucessive highlighting with thin paint, it comes out well, with so much practice I am pretty comfortable with red, brown, blue and skin tone haha

not so happy with the sculpt of the armored boots, but I think i did okay with it


So this is what I started with last night, I did the face first, at this light the eyes are pretty okay actually.


So the first task is to pin her to the base

That is a 0.03mm brass wire, I drilled a .04 hold on the bottom of her boot and stick it in

Actually it is easier to handle than I thought, but had to be very carful...

didn't drill straight up as I fear it would shot through the boot, so it was in at an angle,

the little bit of brass wire was shown, bit of black took care of it

The base is a secret weapon base, I had to coarsely fill down the middle bit coz the whole things looks more like moss than sand, or perhaps it was meant to be moss, anyway, I want the middle to be sand. Again, great base from secret weapon.

Astrid, half dressed....

Hmmm looking back at the pictures I really need to set up the light box so that the light sources are more balanced
I like how the red on the thigh is showing, took me a while doing the highlight
need to do the the leather straps and decide on how to handle the corset

Astrid in red .. (wip)

yea... did someting stupid and made the surface look really grainy...

perhaps I should look into using milliput juice

First night with Astrid...

• hi everyone, yea I love misleading titles
• I am painting this for my "sister", she used to be a rocker, lead singer of her band savage voice, the band ended when she started with a ... caring ... boyfriend
• and now she parted and she got her own room, so here I am, spent a night with this lovely Astrid of Reaper
• This is also the first time I use the Master paint series of Reaper
• Dropper bottle is good that I can use drop by drop, but then now that I am trying to thin paint I don't even need the entire drop haha
• the paint felt thicker, watering/thinning it need a bit more effort, it felt like cream in water at first, I think I need more time to master that
• the color matching is wonderful, safe me a lot of guess work or color testing, then again I can do that with GW paint if I got familiar with it
• I think I am still at my early days of painting so it's hard to say which one is better, like what I read somewhere, it's a matter of preference and habit aye?
• again a secret weapon base, a few splashes of wash (Secret weapon wash + GW wash), a bit of dry brush, done, love it.

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